


HUM 4995: Intro to Mutant Studies

by SapphoIsBurning



Series: Mutant Studies: An Emerging Discipline [1]
Category: New Mutants, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Academia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Disability, Gen, Mutant Rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphoIsBurning/pseuds/SapphoIsBurning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kitty Pryde, nervous assistant professor at University of Chicago, distributes this syllabus on the first day of class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HUM 4995: Intro to Mutant Studies

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my own syllabus writing.

**HUM 4995: Intro to Mutant Studies**

University of Chicago  
Fall 2013  
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:15-1:30

Professor Katherine Pryde  
Office: 725 Walker  
Email: kpryde@uchicago.edu  
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00-5:00 or by appointment

**Course Description and Objectives:**

Mutant Studies is an emerging discipline in the humanities.  Springing from the fertile ground of queer and disability studies, MS seeks to explore and theorize the embodied experience of mutanthood in literature, history, and culture. Since the publication of Hank McCoy's germinal 2008 volume _Genome Trouble: Mutants and the Pursuit of/by Humanity_ , there has been heated discussion about what it means to possess the X-Factor chromosome in terms of rights discourses and the state, disability/ability status, identity and subjectivity, posthumanism, and of course the gender binary.

Through this class, you will:

  * Acquire a foundational knowledge of Mutant Studies as an emerging field of inquiry.

  * Explore MS's connections to other ongoing conversations in the humanities.

  * Conduct original research on a topic of your choice situated within MS.

  * Gain advanced knowledge of the genres including the academic article, the book review, and the blog.

  * Investigate the ethical and cultural issues related to researching mutants in the 21st century.




This class fulfills the university's upper-level writing requirement, and honors credit is available.

**Required Texts:**

(All books are available at the University Bookstore but may be acquired more cheaply online.)

Coy Manh, Xi’an, ed.   _The Mutant Studies Reader_.  London: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Hayles, Katherine. _How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics_. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie, ed. _Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body_. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

McCoy, Henry.   _Genome Trouble: Mutants and the Pursuit of/by Humanity_.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008.

Moonstar, Danielle.   _The Empty Quiver: Indigeneity, Mutation, and Genocide_.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.

(Additional required readings will be available through CRBRO, our course management system.)

**Course Assignments:**

**Weekly blog entries: 20%**.  You will be required to keep a blog using Wordpress, Dreamwidth, Tumblr, or another open blogging platform, and make a total of 12 substantive (750+ word) posts over the course of the semester.

 **Book review: 20%.**  You will compose a scholarly book review of a recent text in Mutant Studies, and solicit its publication with a relevant academic journal.  I have contacted the editor of _Mutation and Society_ and s/he assures me they are very interested in publishing student-authored reviews.

 **Leading class discussion: 10%.**  You will sign up to lead the conversation one day of class, distributing thought-provoking discussion questions at least two days in advance, as well as preparing a handout that summarizes the key points of the readings.

 **Final paper: 40%.**  (10% proposal, 10% rough draft, 20% final.)  You will write an original research paper of at least 30 pages (or the hypertext equivalent, should you choose) exploring a theme, historical or critical figure, or text relevant to Mutant Studies.  I will be scaffolding the topic selection process throughout the semester.

 **Participation: 10%.**  This is a discussion-based seminar and I expect full and dynamic participation from all students.  You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own contributions at the end of the semester.

**Course Policies:**

**Accommodations and access** : if you have a documented hyperability or disability that will affect your ability to complete the requirements of this class, please contact me as soon as possible so that we can arrange a suitable accommodation with the Office of Ability Affairs.

 **Attendance** : student attendance is crucial for the success of upper-level seminars such as ours.  You may have two unexcused absences total for the semester; beyond that, I will deduct .1 from your final grade point in the course.  Please plan accordingly.

 **Late assignment policy** : all major assignments must be submitted via CRBRO before midnight on the day they are due.  I will deduct .5 from your final grade for every full calendar day they are submitted late without prior permission.  Lateness due to time-space disturbances beyond student control will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

 **Laptop policy** : you may bring your laptop, tablet, or other device to class so long as it does not become a distraction or a way for the class to be infiltrated or surveilled by anti-mutant forces.  Laptop lids should be shut during discussion unless you are a designated note-taker or require the device for an ability accommodation.

 **Plagiarism and academic honesty** : in some dimensions I have visited, plagiarism is punishable by death.  In this course, the consequence is a zero on the assignment and a referral to Frank Castle and the Undergraduate Honor System.  The choice is yours.

**Course Calendar:**

(See attached.)


End file.
